Derawan Island, East Kalimantan, Kalimantan

Derawan islands must be everyone’s dream of the perfect tropical paradise: warm, isolated islands with soft white sand beaches fringed with waving palm trees, pristine seas that change color from green to deep blue, and an amazing underwater life of giant turtles, dolphins, manta rays, dugongs and barracudas, stingless jellyfish and sometimes, whales Derawan is indeed one of world’s richest areas in bio-diversity. Small wonder that the Derawan Islands are considered the third best dive destination in the world.

Here, you can find 460 different species of corals, ranking this area second only to the Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua. The Nature Conservancy and a team of international experts also found more than 870 species of fish here, ranging from tiny pygmy seahorses to giant manta rays. On some days, groups of up to 50 manta rays have been seen feeding together in Derawan’s waters, says the Conservancy.

While on Kakaban, you can find the world’s largest and most diverse jellyfish lake, including four unique species of stingless jellyfish one of which can swim upside down. It is for this reason that Kakaban is considered for UNESCO nomination as a World Heritage Site.

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